[Exalted] Lords of the Hundred Kingdoms OOC

[The Nomad]

Merits need my approval because some of 'em are broken as hell or useless (same for Flaws).

Also, frigid, remember that your character will not start the game fresh out of the woods - you'll already have met the others and therefore spend some time in the greater civilization of the Scavenger lands.

BTW, here's a little custom setting element (well not entirely custom, since it's a development of a location from a 1st Edition novel):

This small country, located north of the Yellow River, has suffered many political upheavals in the past few years. After the old king Mariburn was deposed and murdered by a minor noble named Belamis, who claimed his throne as the Sower of Decay and Distrust, several outlying villages saw their population decimated by a mysterious curse that struck in minutes, leaving only corpses in its wake. The shambling dead rose in the eponymous capital of Ortense, and formed a ghastly royal guard for the Sower.

Only the intervention of a former mercenary turned revolutionary warrior, named Grendis Lam, allowed the people to overcome the fell artifices of the Sower. Aided by a wandering sorceress, he confronted the usurper, and slew him after ravaging his undead army.

Lam did not take the throne for himself, and entrusted it to the next living relative of Mariburn, a noble named Iuro. He became the Guardian of Ortense, both military leader and spiritual guide. Yet a year and a half after his victory, he disappeared in a skirmish with mysterious raiders, leaving no trace. Had he been devoured by a rampaging behemoth, whisked away by spirits or Fae, did he have enough of the responsibilities and resumed his mercenary lifestyle? None know the answer, but King Iuro and his chamberlain, Rydec, struggle to maintain the order in a country still recovering from the Sower’s exactions.

Economically, the country’s main resources are its rice plantations, which are being used to fund the reconstruction, following the various mistreatments at the hands of the usurper, the rebellion itself, and the raids that seemingly claimed Grendis Lam’s life. They can still feed the country’s some fifty thousand inhabitants (ten thousand living in or immediately near Ortense’s capital city), but the weight of well over two thousand victims of the tyrant, and the growing casualties of the raids, have started to weigh down on the state’s coffers. Soon, King Iuro will have to make durable trade concessions to the Guild in the hope of financing his government’s endeavors.

[Lys]

@Lys: oh by the way, just forgot...

*takes newspaper*

*slap* NO YOU CAN'T GET THE DIRECTIONAL TITAN! BAD, BAD LYS!

Ow! Ow! Ow! I was only thinking it! I only want a smaller, more mobile version of a Titan!

Also, frigid, remember that your character will not start the game fresh out of the woods - you'll already have met the others and therefore spend some time in the greater civilization of the Scavenger lands.

Whaaat? But, but, introductions are so much fun!

They can still feed the country’s some fifty thousand inhabitants (ten thousand living in or immediately near Ortense’s capital city), but the weight of well over two thousand victims of the tyrant, and the growing casualties of the raids, have started to weigh down on the state’s coffers. Soon, King Iuro will have to make durable trade concessions to the Guild in the hope of financing his government’s endeavors.

They're very pretentious. Half the size of Rhode Island and with a total population that can fit in my homeland's capital city. It's more a Free City or County than a Kingdom. Ah well, during the last siege in 1451 the Roman "Emperor" also ruled but a city, albeit one of the largest in the world. These things happen.

[frigidmagi]

I got to echo Lys, introductions are fun.

[Cavalier]

Readjusted yet again.

Name:
Yue of the Secret Quicksilver
Caste:
No Moon Lunar
Concept:
Martial Scholar
Motivation:
To defend the Hundred Kingdoms against depredation

Intimacies:
Sifu Master Fang (Honorable Respect)
Occluded Moon Huntress (Wary Appreciation)
Hundred Kingdoms (Protectiveness)

Totem Animal:
A silver-grey falcon.
Anima Banner:
Veil of misty purple flaring to silver as essence use increases, with a moonlit grey falcon swirling around the banner once it becomes iconic.
Tell:
Tufts of silver down in his hair.

Virtues:
Compassion 3 (Flaw)
Temperance 2
Conviction 2
Valor 2

Limit:
0/10 Curse of the Sacrificing Pelican
-Must act impulsively and in most direct fashion to succor or aid those suffering in the immediate area.
-Partial Control: May make a tactical delay or negotiate when acting to protect targets of compassion.

Attributes:
Strength 3
*Dexterity 5
Stamina 3
Charisma 2
Manipulation 1
Appearance 4
*Perception 4
*Intelligence 5
*Wits 4

Abilities:
Athletics 1
Awareness 2
Dodge 5 (+1 Multiple Opponents)
Integrity 3
*Martial Arts 5 (+1 Duel)
Resistance 2
Linguistics 1 (Riverspeak: Great Forks, Old Realm)
Performance 1 (+1 Song)
*Survival 3 (+1 Wyld)
Lore 2
Medicine 1
Occult 3

Backgrounds:
Mentor 2
Reputation 1
Artifact 2
Artifact 1
Heart's Blood 1

Charms:
Prey's Skin Disguise (Knack)
Deadly Beastman Transformation (Knack)
Claws of the Silver Moon
Hide of the Cunning Hunter
Ox Body Technique (x1)
First Dexterity Excellency
Golden Tiger Stance
Wary Swallow Method

Warform:
Strength 4
Dexterity 6
Stamina 4
Soak 9B/11L/8A
Dodge 10
Move 6/12

Clinch: Speed 6, Acc 11, Dam 4B, Rate 1
Kick: Speed 5, Acc 11, Dam 7B, PDV 5, Rate 2
Punch: Speed 5, Acc 12, Dam 4B, PDV 7, Rate 3

Enhanced Eyesight: (Pox) +2 on Awareness rolls involving sight
Feathers: (Pox) +2 to Survival pool and +1B/1L Soak
Glider: (Blight) Wings allow Stamina x 3 yards in level flight per action

Claws of the Silver Moon Gift: 1m com, +2 acc +(Strength)L

Martial Arts:
No Terrestrial/Celestial styles known

Thaumaturgy:
No Thaumaturgical Arts known

Spells:
No Sorcery Known

Combos:
None

Equipment:
Moonsilver Breastplate (6L/4B Soak, 2L/2B Soak, 2m attunement)
Moonsilver Bracers (+3 Dodge DV, 2L Soak, 4m attunement)
Travel Cloak
Martial Artist Robes

Essence:
Level 2; Personal 22, Peripheral 40, 6 committed
Willpower:
10
Dodge DV:
9
Dodge MDV:
8
Join Battle:
6
Soak:
7B, 9L, 8A
Health Levels:
-0
-1 -1 -1 -1
-2 -2
-4
I
D D D D D

Attacks:
Clinch: Speed 6. Acc 10, Dam 3B, Rate 1
Kick: Speed 5, Acc 10, Dam 6B, PDV 4, Rate 2
Punch: Speed 5, Acc 11, Dam 3B, PDV 6, Rate 3

Background Info:
Mentor 2: Occluded Moon Huntress was the nearest Lunar able to effect a rescue from the Threshold when Yue exalted. She provided instruction in the Lunar condition and the nature of Exaltation, and introduced him to the beginnings of sorcery. However, following his falling-out with the Silver Pact in the wake of a visit to the Nameless Lair of Ma Ha Suchi, she has become rather distant. Yue is uncertain of where they stand and unsure of what her true agenda is, leaving him content to remain in only perfunctory contact for the time being.

Artifact 1: Moonsilver Breastplate, a First Age relic recovered from the hoard of a Raksha Prince in the Bordermarches as part of Yue's tattoo trials.

Artifact 2: Moonsilver Heearthstone Bracers, First Age relics recovered from the same Raskha hoard as the Breastplate. The hearthstone setting in the right arm bracer has long been empty.

Reputation 1: Yue did surprisingly well in the Moonsilver tattoo trials, and so has earned the title of Nain-Ya, "Kin," among Lunar society.

Heart's Blood 1: Library of archived shapes.
-True Human Form: A lean, graceful young man of vaguely Realm features, with brown eyes and black hair flecked with silvery down.
-True Spirit Form: A silvery Peregrine Falcon.
-Housecat: An unassuming, perfectly normal calico tabby cat.
-Wolf: A great grey wolf of the forests, lean and sinuous.
-Bandit: The price of learning Prey's Skin Disguise.

Total XP:
0
Remaining XP:
0
Spent XP:
0
Detail:
N/A

BP spending :
5 Willpower (5)
2 Dexterity (6)
1 Intelligence (3)
4 Martial Arts (4)

[The Nomad]

Sorry but I'm quite tired of playing introductions, whether on tabletop or in pbp games. I'd rather have the party know each other and work on a common background before the start of the game.

Also Cavalier remember that even if you shift into another form, whatever the form, the tatoos remain quite visible. They just can't be hidden by fur or feathers.

[fgalkin]

And also that they (IIRC) cover the face as well as the body, so you can't just hide them under clothing.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[The Nomad]

The artifact part of the tatoos only covers the relevant body part, but I don't even recall if there's a canon Lunar Charm to cloak them. Going by the Tatoo Artifact's wording, IIRC, even Hide of the Cunning Hunter doesn't cut it.

[Cavalier]

Most of the Lunar art shows characters that don't have facial tattoos, which makes me think those are not altogether common. Usually they seem concentrated on the upper arms, chest, and legs. How easily they can be concealed by mundane means is perhaps something to discuss.

In any case I'll drop the moonsilver tattoo artifacts and go down to Moon Forged Mail. I'll also take Hide of the Cunning Hunter after all to be sure that the tattoos can be concealed, though if that isn't likely to be necessary then I could take Eye of the Cat so at least someone in the group can see dematerialized entities.

[The Nomad]

I thought twice about it and decided to drop the tomb searching process. Just give me a believable reason for your starting artifacts and let us roll with the story.

[Lys]

That is rather more convenient. My Solar's tomb is somewhere out in the Wyld Marches, as are her former domains, and probably some of the artefacts she is looking for. Not exactly good places for a starting character to go prowling in.

[The Nomad]

Not so fast - either you already took your shinies at chargen, or you work your tomb into your background to get them later, but you can't have your cake and eat it too .

[Hawkwings]

Just checking in. Have equipment to do, and I think that's about it.

[The Nomad]

Also, frigid, if I may suggest, it would be better for you to invert the Familiar and Artifact ratings (well, Artifact 4 at most, since 5 is really a heap of trouble for a young Exalt). The Familiar Background is, as I said, really useless. On the other hand, I feel that a generic orichalcum dire lance is too bland. What say we work to give it some cool (though not broken, of course) custom abilities?

[frigidmagi]

As I said before it doesn't make sense for him to be tooling around with anything big and frankly, my stance as always been that your cool toys should be torn from the bleeding hands of your enemies in game.

No offense meant but this skip the introductions thing is kinda throwing me off as well as I really have no clue where Amoneth is now. I've discussed a bit with Lys and need to actually sit down with Hawkwings and Cavalier (sorry guys I keep putting it off).

I'd really rather be allowed to play my character has I saw him, I'm not trying to be difficult but you're pulling this on me 5 pages in.

[The Nomad]

So just so we are clear on this - you won't begrudge me or quit the game when your familiar is cut down in a single blow by the first worthy adversary you meet ? (yes, that's how utterly useless the familiar is).

Also, the 'loot it from their dead bodies' stance has no real validity in Exalted. It's a way to view things, but if it fits the concept and doesn't unbalance the game/unhinge the story, you can start with a powerful toy all right - that's what BG and bonus points are for. You can also start already powerful or with a high social situation. Lys will start a Princess, not some farmgirl going for adventure. Exalted characters can potentially start with previous accomplishments worthy of adventure before the game - as long as it doesn't contradict the tone and project of the ST.

The prelude won't be RPed as such but you can write it in collaboration with the other players. At least get together a reason why your characters would want to work together before the game starts - scratch that, I won't start the game until we have nailed down a kernel of what will bind your Circle, and while RP conflicts between PCs can spice a game, fundamental incompatibilities of behavior/philosophies are a no-go.

I still need Hawkwings and Lys' more detailed backgrounds, and Lys needs to give me a basic summary of Clarent's special abilities.

[Cavalier]

Yue has the motivation "protect the Hundred Kingdoms." He also has the fortune of a powerful mentor in his background and the histories of the Silver Pact to provide a (fragmented, biased) picture of the true history of the world. So seeking out the returning Lawgivers and gauging whether or not they are a threat to Creation, or the powerful allies the Lunars need to preserve it, makes sense for him. That is at least incentive for him to stick around with the circle of Solars for some time, unless they do something dramatically inappropriate or wander far, far off course from his core area of interest (without events to change his motivation, anyway)l

Also given that it's not unlikely he could fill in any disoriented newbie Solars about the lies of the Immaculate Order and give them a broader view of Creation. That may be something to keep in mind, whether we need introduction posts to get-together or to explain how the circle formed in the first place if we start in media res.

Also, updated my sheet yet again. The artifacts were part of a hoard seized by a minor Raksha prince in the Bordermarches, who Yue bested as part of his tattoo trials. His mentor let him keep the prizes since their original owner was long since lost to the mists of time, and since surviving the Wyld was the true point of the task. The extra success involved in doing so well was what netted him his minor reputation in Lunar society.

[frigidmagi]

So just so we are clear on this - you won't begrudge me or quit the game when your familiar is cut down in a single blow by the first worthy adversary you meet ? (yes, that's how utterly useless the familiar is).

I'd be happy just dropping the points entirely if you allow it. Seriously you'll note no mention of the familiar in the back story, it doesn't even have a name I remember... It's a place to park points I didn't want in a section that jars with how I see this guy. In his position it doesn't make sense to have allies, mentors, lands or much of anything. Giant Talking Wolf came in as the least offender.

If it helps, this guy is Tarzan at the start or John Carter of Mars while among the green men. He's working off his strength, his skills, his wits and whatever he can grab that isn't nailed down to the floor.

Also, the 'loot it from their dead bodies' stance has no real validity in Exalted. It's a way to view things, but if it fits the concept and doesn't unbalance the game/unhinge the story, you can start with a powerful toy all right - that's what BG and bonus points are for.

Expect it doesn't fit my concept of the character has I have repeatly told you. This isn't about Lys or what the other's characters have or don't have. Amoneth comes from a stone age culture that was protected by a god. A culture that was wiped out. He has found no tombs, riddled with no spirits or struggled with any Fae. At best some member of the other Solar... Is it okay if I plant a name on this guy? Just for Out of Character use? Let's say Ajax until you reveal him in game?

At best he found a weapon in Ajax's army after his little berserk killing spree and is carrying that around. Which means frankly that Dire Lance is the most it can be realistically speaking from my view.

I understand you're dealing with balance here and you're worried that I'll be left behind the curve. Thing is I'm honestly not, I'll either learn to make for it in game or Amoneth will die trying to achieve goals that are frankly to big for him.

[The Nomad]

Well then if you're sure...

Well at least, perhaps you simply took the weapon from 'Gil'* - he let you get close to the weapon, taunting you, intending to take it from your hands with a Charm just to crush your fighting spirit, when the strength of Amoneth's sudden Second Breath forcibly disattuned it and prevented him from recalling the weapon with Call the Blade. It would likely not have simply been found in the camp ripe for the taking - this stuff is much too precious for that, but you can't actually beat your nemesis in your backstory to get it from its corpse, right?

This incidentally lets you get your hands on some cool stuff. AND lets you cherish this weapon as a trophy and the tool of your revenge - slay your nemesis with their own blade.

At any rate, even a two-dot lance is an Artifact with a history. Give it a cool name. If I still can't convince you to make it a cooler weapon with some nice custom power (and personnally, I've always thought that the stats in the corebook where just a basic template and that every orichalcum weapon should have some 'plus', at least a minor power that sets it apart from its kin, because they were the weapons of the God-Kings of Creation), your loss .

As for being a prehistoric out of the jungle, you can play this out in the prologue, but as I said, in the actual start of the game you'll have had ample time to familiarize yourself with civilization, if only through your contacts with your Circle. Not that you'll have to like it or blend in, of course.

* I rather like the surname 'Gil', from F/SN's Gilgamesh.

[The Nomad]

Also, I just realized that you must have spent the Background points wrong - you can't raise your backgrounds past 3 without spending bonus points, so your current repartition is flawed.

Personally, without changing anything else I'd suggest Familiar 3, Artifact 3... and something else. Alternatively you may convert the unused background points to bonus points on a 1-1 basis.

[frigidmagi]

Crap, you're right... Well, fuck.

Tell you what, I'm open to suggestions. Without changing his background, what do you think Amoneth should be tooling around with?

[Cavalier]

You probably want to start just by restating your character and putting it into Nomad's character sheet format. I think there's a lot to be learned looking at how other people have done theirs, and constant tinkering around has helped solidify my concept. It may be helpful to use a character generator; there are good sheets for every Exalted type here.

Be sure to look over the Scroll of Errata and use the new character generation rules. They make it easier for starting-out characters, giving them more bonus points, reduced costs, and so on.

As for the mandated resources points, you have seven. Certainly recovering an artifact from your antagonist is reasonable, and adding on some extra powers (like say, a Holy effect, or extra stat bonuses) to add on one dot to make it a 3 dot Dire Lance would be reasonable. That still leaves four points, of course... Possibly some talismans, bought with artifact points, that could be used for Luck (allowing a reroll for botches) or Warding (imposing a 1ep penalty on a particular class of enemy) or so on? Your people could have produced those with thaumaturgy, or they could have been sacred relics reappropriated to help you pursue vengeance. If you've done any good deeds after entering civilization a small Cult following might not be unreasonable either, even if you're mistaken for a forest god rather than a Solar.

[Lys]

The prelude won't be RPed as such but you can write it in collaboration with the other players. At least get together a reason why your characters would want to work together before the game starts - scratch that, I won't start the game until we have nailed down a kernel of what will bind your Circle, and while RP conflicts between PCs can spice a game, fundamental incompatibilities of behavior/philosophies are a no-go.

Okay, someone had to ask: Do we get XP that we would have gotten if we had RPed it in the game?

Lys needs to give me a basic summary of Clarent's special abilities.

Working on it!

Also, I just realized that you must have spent the Background points wrong - you can't raise your backgrounds past 3 without spending bonus points, so your current repartition is flawed.

Damn it, I hate that rule so much I'd retconned it from my memory. >_>
They should have erratad backgrounds like they did abilities, allowing players to go to five without spending anything.

[frigidmagi]

You probably want to start just by restating your character and putting it into Nomad's character sheet format.

I did, despite it feeling all sorts of ass backwards. I'm assuming that some how this set up is better for Exalted.

That still leaves four points, of course... Possibly some talismans, bought with artifact points, that could be used for Luck (allowing a reroll for botches) or Warding (imposing a 1ep penalty on a particular class of enemy) or so on?

? Wouldn't that be in violation of the no pts above 3 dots rule?

If you've done any good deeds after entering civilization a small Cult following might not be unreasonable either, even if you're mistaken for a forest god rather than a Solar.

Thanks but... no cults.

[Hawkwings]

Alright, so here's my character's background.

First of all, her name is Thalia. Or maybe that was her name, does she have to take on some new overly high-and-mighty name as an Exalted?

Anyways, she was a librarian and research scholar in a mid-level institution of higher learning in a nondescript city in one of the Hundred Kingdoms. Basically a nobody in a sea of nobodies, living nowhere surrounded by more nowhere. I do like the idea of a one-room manse, so perhaps part of the university is in the site of an old First Age ruin, and the manse is Thalia's office that she's taken quite a liking to?

As for why she's tooling around with some half-naked savage and a noble princess, well it's quite simple really. How many other sympathetic adventurers is she likely to find with a passion for righting the wrongs in the world and the capabilities to actually do something important? Oh, and the part where they don't kill her for being anathema is important too. Plus socializing was never her strong point - better to have other people to do that, as well as some combat specialized people for the brutal bits.

[Lys]

Magi, if backgrounds don't work for you then you should probably just take up Nomad's offer to exchange excess backgrounds for BP that you can put into your stats. Take a 2 or 3 dot spear, and then spend the other 5 or 4 points on attributes, abilities, virtues, or willpower.